1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crimping apparatus having a pair of crimpers provided correspondingly in a pair of frames and a pair of connector tables located on each frame and capable of manufacturing various kinds of sub-harnesses and a method of manufacturing them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 14 to 16 show a crimping apparatus disclosed in JP-A-7-161438 and JP-A-161439(which correspond to U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,523).
A crimping apparatus, generally 81, as shown in FIG. 14, sends an electric wire 82 (simply referred to as xe2x80x9cwirexe2x80x9d) to a pair of crimpers 86 and 86xe2x80x2 arranged in a wire shifting direction through a supporting roller 83, guide roller 84 and measuring roller 85, and crimps the wire onto connectors 89 and 89xe2x80x2 on moving tables 87 and 87xe2x80x2 below the respective crimpers 86 and 86xe2x80x2 by the ascent/descent operation of vertical cylinders 88 and 88xe2x80x2. After the wire is crimped on the connector on the forward moving table 87xe2x80x2, it is extended to a prescribed length like 82a by the measuring roller 85 and crimped on the connector on the backward moving table 87. The connector is equipped with a crimping terminal.
As seen from FIG. 15, the connectors 89 and 89xe2x80x2 are loaded on the moving tables 87 and 87xe2x80x2, respectively. Specifically, a cover 91 is opened by pulling a handle 90 and the connector 89 is loaded in a load section 92. The connector 89 is hooked by a hook (not shown) at a tip of a horizontal cylinder 93 and moved to a stopper 94 on the moving table 87. As shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, a crimping blade 96 falls from a slit 95 on the connector 89 to crimp the wire 89 on the connector 89. The wire 82 can be crimped in a crossing manner by movement of a moving table 87.
As shown in FIG. 16A, the wire 82 is crimped in a state where it is held by a wire holder 99 of the cylinder 97 which falls integrally with crimping blade 96. The crimping blade 96 is driven by the vertical cylinder 86 (FIG. 14). As the crimping blade 96 falls, the wire 82 is cut by a cutter 98 and crimped on the crimping terminal 100 within the connector as shown in FIG. 16B.
In the above configuration, however, as shown in FIG. 15, only the connectors corresponding to a set of sub-harnesses can be supplied. In addition, the connectors must be manually loaded one by one. This requires further improvement of productivity and workability. Further, only the connectors having a single shape (common in only the longitudinal cross section and different in length) could be loaded so that sub-harnesses using various kinds of connectors could not be manufactured. Therefore, the arrangement of connectors are likely to be limited, thus making xe2x80x9cset production of sub-harnessesxe2x80x9d in which the completed sub-harness has a product pattern) difficult. Further, in FIG. 16, where the height h of the connector 89 is large, positioning of the wire 82 by the wire holder 99 was apt to be unstable.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a crimping apparatus capable of improving the productivity of sub-harnesses and supplying efficiency of connectors, permitting set-production of sub-harnesses, and surely positioning a wire even when the height of the connector is large.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a wiring harness using such an apparatus.
In order to attain the first object, there is provided a crimping apparatus comprising a pair of frames arranged orthogonal to a wire shifting direction; a pair of crimpers each provided centrally in each frame; a pair of connector tables each provided movably in a longitudinal direction of each frame; locking means for securing the connector tables on both ends of each frame; a pair of moving means for moving each said connector table along the frame; and connector holding poles in each of which a plurality of connectors are arranged to be settable on each said connector table.
In order to attain the second object, there is provided a method of manufacturing a sub-harness using a crimping apparatus including a crimper provided centrally in a frame and a pair of first and second connector tables slidable in the longitudinal direction of the frame, comprising the steps of:
moving the first connector table immediately beneath said crimper; supplying a connector to said second connector table while crimping a wire onto a connector on said first connector table to form a sub-harness; returning said first connector table to an initial position; moving said second connector table immediately beneath said crimper; and removing the sub-harness from the first connector table to supply another connector to said first connector table while crimping the wire onto the connector on the second connector table.
In accordance with the present invention, while a wire can be crimped onto a connector on the first connector table, another connector can be supplied to the second connector table, or otherwise a sub-harness can be recovered from the second connector table. Thus, the time taken from connector supply to take-out of a product can be shortened, thereby improving the productivity of the sub-harness.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.